Mix it up, play a bunch of idiot races who you will extort, and have one intelligent. Preferably Drengin, they work best in such a situation. I recently found that my threshold for ownage is somewhere between 1.1 first beta and 1.1 second beta. It takes a looooooooong time for me to win now, and by year four it's a struggle for survival.
Thank God for +50% defence bonus.